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Forecasts and market analysis based on price assessments from Fastmarkets MB and Fastmarkets AMM

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June 2014 | Steel Raw Materials


Import prices in China continued to decline prior to festivities: Iron Ore Highlights


Judging by the continued and unexpected hikes in port stocks through May, partially driven by Australian exports, iron ore market fundamentals are far from tight.

Prior to the Dragon Boat festival last week, iron ore import prices in China continued to fall, and at a faster speed than the week before. Indeed the MBIOI62 benchmark crashed to $91.33/tonne CFR Qingdao on May 30, the lowest reading since September 6, 2012. Since then, gains have been marginal: the index rose to $92.68/tonne CFR at the time of writing on June 3 although the 58% FE fines price had slipped further to just $70.66; an unprecedented level. Though there are plenty of speculative factors that affect spot prices in China from one day to the next, it is hard to argue that these latest levels undervalue the commodity.

Judging by the continued and from our perspective unexpected hikes in port stocks through May, partially driven by Australian exports (see...

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